So - you want teeth for life then?

When I ask my patients if they want to keep their teeth for life, they'll usually smile and say yes. It's not that it's funny, it's just that most people assume that dental health is a given.

Along with stuff like space flight, stem cell technology and the ability to make more telephones than you could ever imagine being necessary, surely the human race can sort a thing as simple as teeth - right?

Well, as with a lot of things, it's not a given.

Some of us are prone to diseases of the gums and tissues that hold our teeth in place - we call this periodontal or gum disease. In simple terms it's caused by harmful bacteria, growing in the bits of chewed up food that we leave behind on our teeth after eating and cleaning. Superb cleaning certainly helps, as does stopping smoking, controlling diabetes and having a healthy diet.

At York Place Dental we've been screening all of you for years, matching your personal dental hygiene program to the risk of you getting gum and other dental diseases. Kim and Michelle train and mentor you in how best to reduce the risk of tooth loss through gum disease, and they check your progress over time at review visits.

The big news this month is that we're trialling a computer program called Previser to help us to be even more confident that we are getting your care program absolutely right - at no additional cost to you.

At your next Dental Health Assessment, we'll be entering a few more readings than usual into the computer and getting an immediate online assessment of the risk of you suffering from periodontal disease, courtesy of Previser. We'll explain it to you, give you the correct care and advice , and you get a copy of your report to keep. The key is that Previser have gone to great lengths to match our observations to the latest in international thinking on how best to help you.

The benefit to you? The confidence that we are checking against the best knowledge to make sure that we are getting your preventive dental care right. As long as you follow our advice, you're even more likely to have those teeth for life....

After your next visit we'll be asking you for your comments on this new system - and what we're hearing so far is extremely positive.

Do you have bleeding gums, loose teeth or bad breath? Is there a question you'd like us to answer? Contact us here and we'll help!